Terming the FMC's decision to extend trading hours for agriculture commodities as a "step in the right direction", Ficci today said the move will help farmers and traders by enabling better price discovery and enhancing liquidity, besides restricting the illegal trade.
On March 14, commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) extended trading hours on exchanges in 10 agriculture commodities beyond 5 pm to 11.30 pm, effective April 1.
"Evening trading on domestic exchanges will facilitate more efficient alignment of domestic prices with international prices, thereby greatly reducing the basis risk currently faced by the domestic industry," the industry chamber said.
"The introduction of evening trading will not only provide better price discovery and liquidity but also widen the horizon of the commodity markets significantly," it added.
The FMC has extended trading time for agricultural commodities such as soya oil, crude palm oil, RBD palmolein, cotton, cotton seed oil cake, cotton seed, sugar and maize at national bourses.
The FMC regulates 17 commodity exchanges in the country, of which six operate at the national level.
